Five days of consecutive rain has been the lot of the Berliners, and the town and surrounding country wear the most dismal and dreary look imaginable. Farmers and speculators on the Exchange are grumbling about the probable failure of the potato crop, and altogether business seems to have become affected by the constant series of gloomy days. Berlin certainly is "under a cloud" just now in more ways than one. The chief social event of the week ought to have been the anniversary of the birth of the Crown Princess, which fell yesterday [Sept. 21]. Contrary to all expectations, however, this was celebrated very quietly, and there was nothing to denote that the day was an exceptional one. This has not particularly pleased the Berliners, who have been enamored of the youthful princess ever since the memorable day when she made her triumphal entry through the Brandenburger Thor.

1931: Gandhi Protests India's Action

LONDON: Gandhi interrupted a constitutional discussion of the federal structure sub-committee at the round-table conference in St. James' Palace here this afternoon [Sept. 22] to protest bitterly the action of the government in India in tying up the rupee exchange to the pound sterling after the latter went off the gold basis. The Mahatma's action followed first the appeal made to the sub-committee by Sir Samuel Hoare that India should support Great Britain in the present crisis, and second, the answering speech by Sir Akbar Hydari of the state executive council of Hyderabad, wherein he promised his full cooperation. Gandhi, however, protested against the manner wherein the government of India has come to its decision. "Every thoughtful congressman," he said, "must sympathize with the British nation in this crisis." But he expressed sorrow that the decision was taken over the heads of the Indian legislature.

1956: Bolshoi Ballet To Cancel UK Trip

MOSCOW: The famed Bolshoi Theater Ballet troupe threatened today [Sept. 21] to cancel its scheduled visit to London because of the arrest there of discus champion Nina Ponomareva on a charge of shoplifting. In an open letter to the government newspaper "Izvestia," 11 key members of the ballet expressed fear that they might be "insulted and persecuted" in London and made the victims of a "provocation." The arrest on Aug. 29 of Mrs. Ponomareva on a charge of stealing five hats worth $4.68 has repeatedly been described in the Soviet press as a "dirty provocation" engineered by enemies of Soviet-British friendship. "The ballet troupe of the Bolshoi theater cannot visit London in such conditions," the letter stated. Nowhere in its statement did the ballet flatly say that it would cancel its tour, but the implication was that the Bolshoi is unlikely to open at the Covent Garden Opera early next month.

A version of this article appears in print on September 22, 2006, in The International Herald Tribune. Today's Paper|Subscribe